New crop policy to be game-changer: Agri Min

As the Budget Session of Parliament is all set to start from Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government has started preparing a list of its achievements to aggressively counter the Opposition parties in the House. 

Among the major steps taken by the government, the Centre is especially banking on the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, which aims at ending the woes of farmers of the country. 

In a free-wheeling conversation with Millennium Post, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh claimed that the new crop insurance policy would prove to be a game-changer in bringing prosperity to farmers. 

“Crop insurance is a medium to protect farmers from crop losses due to various risks associated with the produce. Under the scheme, farmers are compensated for crop damage due to natural calamities and adverse weather conditions. The new crop insurance policy, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), is being introduced from Kharif 2016 to provide more security to the agrarian community,” Singh said.

Replying to why earlier schemes such as the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and the Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme were discontinued, Singh said: “There were certain provisions in these schemes, where even after paying higher premium, farmers were not getting proper claim. In case of high premium rates, the sum insured was reduced due to capping in premium. Farmers also had to pay a higher premium in high-risk districts. Different premium rates were being charged in neighbouring districts and there was delay in payment of claims to farmers.”

The minister said farmers will have to pay the lowest premium compared with the earlier schemes, making them free from the burden of heavy premium. 

“Under the new scheme, the maximum premium rate for farmers has been kept at 2 per cent for kharif crops and 1.5 per cent for rabi crops. Besides, farmers would have to pay a maximum premium of 5 per cent for annual horticulture/commercial crops, which is lower than ever,” he said.

 Unlike earlier schemes – where claims were reduced due to reduction of the sum insured in case of high premium rates – this provision has been removed in the new scheme and now farmers will get full claim against the sum insured.

Spelling out the risk covered, Singh said: “Comprehensive risk insurance will be provided to cover yield losses due to fire, lightning, storm, hailstorm, cyclone, tornado, flood, inundation, land-slide, drought, bad weather, crop diseases and insect etc.”

Also, if the insured farmer is prevented from sowing/transplanting due to adverse weather, despite the spending on sowing/transplanting, they will be able to get claims upto 25 per cent of the sum insured, the minister said, adding that crops kept in the field after harvesting would be covered on affected farm basis against the risks of cyclone, unseasonal/cyclonic rain and claims would be assessed and paid accordingly.